My mom made and donated some really beautiful quilts for an auction in her small town to benefit local church youth programs.
Her beehive quilt sold for the highest price of all the items at the auction!
In the photo above, the happy lady who bought the quilt is wearing a gray shirt and she stands behind my mom, celebrating. This was so fun to watch.
My mom also made a baby quilt with the most gorgeous colors which was also popular at the auction. My mom is quite a person.
I am doing a little quilt work each day this week. I have set up my sewing station in the kitchen so I can come and go easily, or sew a few seams while I wait for something to cook. This strategy is working, and the blocks are stacking up.
This blog is the tiniest window into what I do and think. You certainly won’t learn about my stance on current events here. I hope that is refreshing.
Not pictured are the friends I meet with each month to sew. These friendships and conversations are the real treasure from my time quilting, not the blocks and quilts.
When I see a project, whether it is a room I have painted, a sewing project, or piece of art, it often triggers memories of the circumstances when I created it.
These blocks, once sewn into a quilt, will probably remind me of long, important conversations, delicious snacks and meals shared with these friends, and their righteous influence in my life.
My friend Kaye taught many women in our neighborhood how to make quilts. One month she guided us through the process of making a Dresden Plate quilt, but I have never made one on my own. Kaye lives in a new city now, where she has started a new quilt group, but her influence keeps inspiring me to do new things. This winter I decided to make a Dresden Plate quilt to use up some pieces and ends.
All of the fabrics you see are from my “scrap box,” so many of the pieces bring back memories. My goal is to only use my scraps to complete the top of this quilt. I have spent so much time cutting, and today I am finally able to sew!
I once looked down on homemaking skills and sewing, but now these things bring me so much joy.
I have a few friends with whom I meet to sew, usually around once a month. As we sew quilts or other individual projects, we explore vast conversations on many topics. These are some of the fastest hours of the month for me. I don’t often sew outside of these tiny gatherings, but I have made progress on several projects and learned from the wisdom of women I truly admire. This week I finished a quilt I began sometime last year. It’s ready to take on a picnic…once the ground thaws.
In this assortment, you will find things that I would like to remember about this week. Wouldn’t it be sad to forget *that* sunset? Or that Mark came home excited about the progress he made on his woods project… And that I worked on a quilt and found a few happy surprises… Wouldn’t it be unfortunate to forget these happy little things?
Here are some sound effects to play in the background as we take a scroll through some of my UFOs (UnFinished Objects).
not pictured:
Tim’s missionary list
It doesn’t bother me to have some unfinished things. It just means that good times are ahead as I finish them. The priority is all of the mission stuff for a while.
Quilting has been a little too vulnerable an activity for me. I think I am done, but I am happy to have this Christmas quilt made from squares exchanged among friends.
The Sanchez sisters and my mom are making an isolation quilt from our homes, each contributing hexagon flowers to put together for someone we love. We adopted this hexie obsession a few years ago, and the secret to a good hexagon quilt is the collaboration. Everyone’s style is needed, so we swap fabric scraps at the cabin each summer. The mixing of styles and personalities is my favorite part of this process.